The present invention relates to commercial seed planters and, in particular, to a guard member useful therewith for preventing blockage of the furrow presser or closure wheels when re-planting minimum tillage fields or other soils containing a variety of surface debris.
With the advent of gasoline shortages, minimum tillage practices have become more popular in the farm industry. Although some deficiencies in crop yield may result, generally, this is offset by cost savings in labor, fuel consumption and the like, as well as various other documented advantages of soil and moisture retention.
One particular cause of reduced yield experienced during the planting season is that the furrow closure means of the planter occasionally becomes blocked with surface debris, resulting in non-germinating seeds or seed loss with subsequent blowing and water run-off. These symptoms occur with greater frequency in minimum tillage and rocky soils, than with soils prepared using traditional tillage practices. Specifically corn stalks, rocks and the like may intermittently or continuously block one or more presser wheel pairs of a multi-row planter which condition may go undetected by the farm operator for a period of time before he/she is able to free the debris.
One type of planter particularly experiencing the foregoing blockage problems are those which utilize a pair of V-mounted presser wheels for closing the furrow, once planted. Two planter brands utilizing such wheels of which Applicant is aware are those manufactured by the John Deere.TM. and Kinze Manufacturing Companies. For these planters, blockage results in improper seed placement and/or furrow closure failure and consequent non-germination of the planted seed.
Although too, John Deere does provide disk and V-wing attachments for clearing the soil surface prior to furrow preparation, they have not been found to overcome the mentioned problem.